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Sense of Fashion: Play with your palette

Selecting adorable outfits for spring is your mission. But, at the moment, the last cold snaps rein us in from rolling the season out in full swing. A great way to test out the new pieces is by using your face as a test palette.

This makes perfect sense if you think about it. Your face is a collection of your skin tone, eye and lip highlights, paired with your hair color. You have all the working pieces you need to test drive spring’s frosty pastels, glittering shimmers and dark versus light hues.

We recommend a quick visit to Ulta, Sephora or your favorite department store beauty counter to request the latest in spring color sets. With minimal investment, make sure you gather colors that work for you and reflect the outfits you have purchased, or have your eye on for spring.

Considering the art you are about to create and remember these guidelines. Your makeup absolutely does not need to match your outfit. Your makeup should compliment or enhance your outfit by adding or highlighting your overall look.

One of my favorite makeup artists always says “You are never dressed until you do your eyes.” This can mean a casual brow-brushing and a dusting over those shadows for a day out, or layers of color with popping lash mascara for a power date.

To help you get started with spring, here are a couple ideas to try:

Erased lips

Perusing the March magazines, you will notice this makeup trend. The look is almost invisible lips, dusted out by a coating of lip gloss that is close to your own skin tone. This is lovely in either a matte shade or a dusty peach metallic. This is used to balance a darker eye look, making your eyes literally pop as a result. Select a pale lip color that will complement the tones of the pale pastels you intend to pick up for spring. Try it out with your skin color and you’ll find you have already tested out a full suit!

Try an illuminator for lip and cheek in a pale color like NARS Copacabana or the Josie Maran Lip & Cheek tint set.

Shimmering eye

We know that muted metallics will be mixed with your looks. The challenge will be to see how much you can carry off, and when to put on the brakes. I am of pale skin tone and short stature, so high pigment metallic eye shadows come of fairly strong. I still love them, so I tend to layer a shimmering color over a matte neutral that matches my skin to tone them down a bit. Balancing this with a solid eye liner lets me wear the shimmer as more of an accent, than letting it take over my eye. This technique applies to my outfits as well. I would wear an item, like muted bronze pumps or threaded skirt worked into my look.

Try a shade that is new for you like Shiseido shimmering cream in Lemoncello. To really work the layers and the imaginary outfit shades, find a larger eye shadow set with options from dark to spring lights — consider Chocolate Bar by Too Faced.

Nail dazzle

We are all excited to be done with winter toes. Nail colors are not only reasonably priced, but they are a great way to experiment. Often a gorgeous nail color in the bottle looks shockingly awful next to your skin. The only way to find out is to experiment! Test out the palest of pastels like Esse Romper Room pink or subtle blue Truth or Flare. Push your palette by creating a nail design and add in a mix of metallic shades like OPI Next Stop. This lets you play with an entire outfit right at your finger tips!

Whatever your goal, take the time to try out spring’s highlights with powder and brush to help you save time and money on an outfit investment.

Contact Erin Ebert at fashionistastylesense@gmail.com or go to savannahnow.com/blogs/fashion.